GINA PARKINSON looks around the rather desolate garden, cheers herself up by scavenging for Christmas decorations and admires a transplanted apple tree

THE frosts and winds have done their work in the garden and the last of the summer flowers mentioned here last week have gone.

The nasturtiums are a sorry sight, their collapsed stems and leaves a wet mess fit only for the compost heap. It’s a good idea to have a quick sort through the remains, getting rid of these plants, since there will almost certainly be seeds hidden beneath the foliage.

These can be saved in a labelled paper bag or envelope for planting next year. It’s also worth scattering a few onto the soil. Some will over-winter successfully and germinate next spring. These garden-grown plants often appear later than those sown in pots indoors, but seem to be less likely to suffer from aphids that congregate on the soft stems and leaves of this plant.

With Christmas looming and days getting shorter, the garden is pushed towards the bottom of my to-do list, although this middle weekend of December is likely to see me outside for a couple of hours giving the place a general tidy up.

Even at this time of year, an hour or two spent outside will make quite a difference to how the garden looks. I’m likely to sweep the paths, neaten the lawn edges and retrieve plant pots blown into the flowerbeds so that the garden looks presentable from the house. My gardening-mad mother-in-law is coming for Christmas, so there’s a bit of pressure to get things right.

We have a mass of climbers attached to the garage wall with purple vine, several clematis and an actinidia all vying for space. Under these grow winter jasmine hung with fairy lights. The summer plants are all cut back before Christmas to reveal the lovely yellow jasmine and the tiny lights that look so pretty on a winter evening.

Winter jasmine is fairly ordinary for much of the year and requires little attention save for tying in the new stems that appear after flowering and well into summer. It can be encouraged to grow denser by trimming back flowered stems and allowing the new ones to take their place. These are the ones that will carry the blooms the following winter.

 

In the veg garden

WE HAVE picked the last of the apples from our small fruit tree. It was moved last winter to the vegetable area from a spot where it seemed lost among other trees and shrubs.

Its new home is more open and sunny and there is plenty of room for the constricted roots to spread out. Despite this move, the tree seems to have recovered, blossoming well in spring and providing us with a better crop of fruit than we have had before. The variety is unknown but a local apple expert thinks it is probably Newton Wonder, an apple that is prolific in our area, a result of the nurseries that were here in the past.

This little apple tree is growing near a newer apple addition to the garden that arrived bare rooted just over a year ago. This one is Ribston Pippin and although it flowered this year, no fruit appeared. This is normal for a new tree apparently and it may not carry fruit next year either.

 

Weekend catch-up...

IT’S that lovely time of year when some of the garden can be brought inside for winter decoration. Holly is the traditional fare but any evergreen branches will give a bit of festive cheer around mirrors or hanging on doors.

Long strands of ivy can trail through cut branches of deciduous shrubs. It looks particularly good contrasting with the red stems from dogwoods.

Seed heads from summer perennials can also be harvested to push in among other stems and branches, while the ringlet stems of contorted hazel simply hung with small baubles and a short string of fairy lights is a striking addition to the seasonal decorations.

The garden can also be harvested for a front door wreath. The easiest way is to buy a ready-made plain ring of woven willow. This can then be decorated by pushing short stems of whatever is available into the gaps.

Longer stems can be fastened onto the ring with brightly coloured ribbon which can then be used to fasten the finished piece to the door. Alternatively use stems of holly, Christmas tree trimmings or anything else that takes the fancy to assemble a homemade wreath.

Thin stems are the most pliable and easiest to work with but remember to wear gloves when working with prickly holly or fir.

 

Gardening TV and radio

Tomorrow

7.35am, BBC2, Life In A Cottage Garden with Carol Klein. 8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio York, Julia Lewis. News and features from the gardens and countryside of North Yorkshire.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther with Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. The team of horticultural experts advise gardeners in Glasgow.

Friday

3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Pippa Greenwood, Christine Walkden and Matthew Wilson answer questions from an audience in Carlisle. The chairman is Eric Robson.

• SEASONS GREETINGS: In the Garden is taking a break over Christmas and will return in the New Year. Happy Christmas and peaceful New Year.